Why You Need to Protect Your Email Accounts

We live in world of instant gratification. We walk around with mini computers in our pockets. We’ve become so accustomed to using our thumbs to find information that we can’t understand why we have to wait for information.

Insurance agencies have to balance instant gratification with privacy requirements. They have to find ways to meet their customers’ need for constant access, while still maintaining the privacy of their information. Right now, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem. The best that most agencies can do is use emails to provide information to their customers whenever they need it.

The issue with this solution is security. Email is one of the most common attack surfaces for hackers. Once they have gained access to an email account, it’s much easier to infiltrate other areas of your agency. Our emails are becoming more and more our IDs. They are login credentials to social accounts, management systems and document management systems.

There are two ways to combat any attacks that may happen on your employees’ email accounts:

Educate Your Employees

Most email breaches happen because employees click on links they shouldn’t. Fundamentally, there is nothing you can do to prevent them from clicking a link in an email, nor can you stop the email from being received by your servers. However, you can offer employee training programs to help them identify phishing scams. This will decrease the likelihood of them clicking on something that could allow a hacker access to your system.

Email Encryption

Email encryption allows agencies to protect private information and maintain compliance. TLS (transport layer security) technology encrypts the connection between two servers. This reduces the risk that someone outside that connection could intercept or alter the message en route. Not only does this protect your agency information, but also the information of your customers.

Because email is so vulnerable, it is critical that you find some way to secure communication with your clients. Not only because of state and federal regulations, but also because it puts you and your agency at risk. Ultimately, it is better to leave your customers twiddling their thumbs for a bit, so that you can make sure to protect their private information.